I’ve always wondered how Americans’ sense of humor will change since Barack Obama has become president.  After all, so many of the jokes in comedic lexicon center around racial differences and stereotypes.

So then I saw this, and realized we havent’ really gone too far.  I find it hilarious.

 Click here for more of Reckless Tortuga’s “And Now You Know” comedic PSA skits.

“Rise Up This Morning
Smile With The Rising Sun
Three Little Birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Swinging Sweet Songs
Of Melodies Pure and True
Saying…This is my message to you”

Barack Obama is now the President-elect of the United States of America.

This is the culmination of nearly 2 years of heavy campaigning, negative advertisements, cool t-shirt designs, and those random endorsement videos on Youtube from a random amalgamation of Hollywood celebrities. We have made it through an entire sequence of “What Ifs” that nearly dragged our hopes to the ground:

“What if White Folks don’t vote for him?” … and then there was the Iowa Caucuses
“What if the Black folks think he’s not Black Enough?” … and then someone started selling Obama/MLK “Dream Fullfilled” t-shirts on the street – can’t get any Blacker than that.
“What if the Republicans throw that Karl Rove slander at him?” …and then there were the debates, and he smoked ‘em!

“But what if he can’t win the general election?”

This weekend I was heavy on the “What Ifs.” I gave cautious warnings to my friends, avoided wearing my Obama t-shirts, and even started contemplating different foreign countries to move when McCain won. And then on Sunday, I put in my CD player Exodus by Bob Marley, arguably one of the greatest albums ever made.

Fast forward to track #9:

Don’t Worry.
About A Thing.
Cuz Every Little Thing Is Gonna Be Alright

If there was one song that epitomized Barack Obama’s message of hope that has transfixed the nation for the past 21 months, Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” is it. While Black folks across the country are blasting their anthems of revelry (from “Black and Proud” by James Brown to “Black President” by Nas) Bob Marley’s simple yet powerful message of positivity is the only way I can articulate my feelings right now…even as a whole new set of “What Ifs” begin to rear their ugly head.

What if he reneges on those promises he has made?
What if due to very unfortunate circumstances, he is not able to fulfill the promise that America has just given him?
What if he fails?

“Don’t Worry, About a Thing”

It’s easy to understand these doubts from even Obama’s core support, mostly brought on by the despair resulting from the idiotic and shameful policies of the last eight years. While now is the time to celebrate, we can soon find ourselves regressing into doubting Obama’s success as president.

But while you all may celebrate and worry, there are three things that maintain my strength in Barack Obama’s President success – three little birds that console my fears as Obama begins the transition from exciting politician to great world leader.

“Three Little Birds”

1) Intelligence – Barack Obama is not just the first Black president of the United States of America, but is probably among the most intelligent. Columbia undergrad, Harvard Law and a common sense of purpose envied by everyone.

2) Support – Not only did Barack win, but he won convincingly with a mandate for success. A record voter turnout gave him over a 5% win nationally and secured over 340 electoral votes. His success of campaigning has also translated into strengthening the Democratic control of Congress and local legislatures.

3) Temperament – Throughout the entire election cycle, the unflappable Barack Obama has maintained an unmatched level of cool. He has the uncanny ability to show the stability and patience of John Kerry while still keeping the sorely missed compassion and likeability of Bill Clinton.

Maybe Obama is, as he said himself a few weeks ago, “too awesome.” While Jesus Christ he is not, and as the economy worsens and wars around the world rage on, these hopes for a successful Obama presidency is all we really have.

We have “hoped” Barack Obama all the way to the finish line, and now that he has arrived, it’s time celebrate. But celebrate briefly, because tomorrow we must immediately get to work, and follow his lead to change the world. Because without our help “Yes We Can” could either become “Sorry We Tried,” or we can finally sing loud and strong those words Bob Marley etched in stone:

“Every Little Thing, Is Gonna be Alright”

MTV changed its mind and will now accept political ads for this year’s presidential elections. For the last 17 years, MTV has not allowed political campaigns or parties to advertise on the network, opting instead to get political by encouraging viewers to get out and vote through network sponsored Choose or Lose and Rock the Vote initiatives. The network now thinks accepting ads will be good for its audience and be a compliment to the current Choose or Lose effort. MTV will allow ads from the political candidates and party committees, but draw the line at ads from third-party organizations and political-action committees.

MTV changed its mind and will now accept political ads for this year’s presidential elections. For the last 17 years, MTV has not allowed political campaigns or parties to advertise on the network, opting instead to get political by encouraging viewers to get out and vote through network sponsored Choose or Lose and Rock the Vote initiatives. The network now thinks accepting ads will be good for its audience and be a compliment to the current Choose or Lose effort. MTV will allow ads from the political candidates and party committees, but draw the line at ads from third-party organizations and political-action committees.

From Cynopsis

Most of you all know I’m a big Barack Obama fan. I, as well as many others, wrote articles, wore tee-shirts, composed songs and donated to his campaign to get the Democratic nomination for President. Folks like you and I pushed him toward the nomination and now that the prize is within reach, our candidate has disappointed many of his ardent supporters with some of his decisions last week.

Will Barack Obama’s recent political moves alienate him from his base or help him get elected?

Or both?

1) On June 19, Barack Obama announces he’s going back on his earlier pledge and will be forgoing the system of public financing for his presidential campaign, and the spending limits that go along with it. Obama is the first presidential candidate to not accept this financing.

2) On June 20, Obama announced support for the domestic spy bill that’s making its way through Congress. This bill, extending George W. Bush’s privileges to listen in on average Americans without a warrant. This bill has split the Democratic party’s support, as many congressmen (especially Obama) are looking to appear strong on national security. “It is not all that I would want. But given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay,” he said in a statement.

3) On June 23, The New York Times published an article that compares Obama’s ties to the midwestern Ethanol producers to George W. Bush’s ties to the Oil/Gas industry. Whether it’s campaign contributions, campaign workers, or just his background as a state senator in Illinois, the second largest corn producer in the nation. This considering poor countries worldwide are undergoing a food shortage and that producing corn-based ethanol isn’t necessarily a proven way to save energy

4) In a campaign rally last week, Obama’s campaign aides removed two Muslim women in traditional hijab headdress from the prime seats behind Obama’s podium, for fear they’d be seen in nationally publicized pictures. The Muslim-American community has been a strong supporter of Obama’s campaign, but fears of Obama being mis-characterized as Muslim has pushed the campaign into panic mode on this and many Muslims fear believe he has not returned their support.

As his former pastor said “I said to Barack Obama last year, ‘If you get elected, November the 5th I’m coming after you, because you’ll be representing a government whose policies grind under people.’ “”

So our perfect candidate has now started his fall from grace. He has now become part of the government that “grind(s) under people” instead of changing it. I knew he had to compromise in order to get elected, but now it seems as if he’s on the verge of becoming just another politician, saying whatever it takes to get ahead.

Personally I would’ve preferred a Obama to stuck to his guns. Committed to his earlier promises and not put McCain into the financial underdog status (a place McCain feels most comfortable). I’d want a president who didn’t want to spy on Americans and one who didn’t have biases in pushing forward our national energy policy. It’d be great to get a president who embraced minorities, especially the estranged Muslim community.

But no, Obama has chosen the typical path of a presidential candidate, and for a guy who’s anti-establishment message got him here, these decisions may cause him the election. How much compromise will his young, college educated, minority (read liberal) base accept? Will we hold him to the coals on his promises of change to to push this country forward in the ways we’d hope? We should push Obama’s agenda the way the evangelicals and neo-cons did with George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.

For some reason, a oil-loving, conservative leaning, evangelical-loving guy can “stick to his guns” and get elected but for some reason a liberal, forward-thinking man can’t get elected without compromise.

But if you’re like me, probably not. Disappointed in his compromises, we will sit back and let our candidate wish/wash, flip/flop and maneuver his way toward the White House…simply hoping that others get on board and the better man will win. Barack Obama may compromise to appease to the general public, but he’s still not John McCain – and that should be good enough right?

I mean, what else are we gonna do….vote for Ralph Nader??

TV One scheduled the season two debut of Black Men Revealed for July 20 at 10p with a repeat at 1a. New hosts, Doug and Ryan Stewart, real-life brothers and syndicated sports radio personalities known as The 2 Live Stews, will lead hot-button conversations amongst five African-American men as they dish on everything from fatherhood to sexuality. The series is produced by Macvision Entertainment.

As reported by Cynopsis

This guest article is written by Tomiko Ballantyne

I have been very frustrated by my fellow black people in recent months. If I had a dollar for every time someone’s said to me, “They going to assassinate Obama,” I could probably afford a new pair of Jimmy Choos. I will not say white folks have not had these thoughts too, but this commentary is about taking my own African-descended kin to task.

One time, I was headed to a barbeque in Oakville, Ontario. I was in a vehicle with three other black women and an Indo-Canadian driver. He stayed silent while I admonished one of the chicks for saying “Obama gonna get shot” from the back seat when the US elections were mentioned. I tried to impress upon her the danger of that kind of thinking. She laughed me off with an, “Oh, it’s really not that deep, fam.” As soon as Obama won the nod a friend sent an e-mail to my Trinidad Carnival crew saying, “Congrats Barack. Hahahahaha, how soon he going and dead?” To which I responded, “But why do you want him dead?”

Another time from my own cousin: “You see these people? Did you see Amadou Diallo? Sean Bell? JFK? MLK? Malcolm X? Let’s see how long Obama lasts.”

I try to force optimism into my life. The Lord’s Prayer is a fresh morning start. Grace before meals rids my food of any evil that may have gone into its preparation. “I am a winner in love,” reminds me that I am worthy of romance and affection. From my close friend I have adopted the phrase “relax, relate, release” to overcome struggles of varying sizes.

But I worry about the availability of happiness, confidence and optimism as go-to, reliable emotions among blacks. What happened to hopeful resilience? What happened to the unashamed and unabashed dreaming that we used to do? Do enough of us genuinely buy into Obama’s theme of hope?

Why are we are placing under the table bets on when Obama’s assassination date will be?

That black people are depressed, disillusioned and troubled is old news. Psychoanalysts have shown the different ways in which freedom to live each moment as a free being on the earth is endemic to basic happiness and hope. Yet, society seems to insist that it is the end, or transcendence, as Heidegger would describe it, towards which humanity strives. Life is not lived in the idealistic – for that would produce a one sided view of happiness. The indeterminacy, creativity and uncertainty is where true beauty lies. This is humanity. To modern philosophers who want to push past ideas of good and evil, this is Blackness. Blackness is humanity that rails against any conceptual barbarisms. Blackness should remind us that we are alive.

So why, when we finally have the chance to change the face of Blackness in our own minds – we squander the opportunity? Why, when we have the chance to transcend Blackness as necessarily mired in negativity – something we know is false – do we deny our chance?

Obama’s life will abolish skewed notions of Black authenticity. Thus far, the study of Blackness has been relegated to the externalities of belonging and less to the authenticity of being. Yet, in not rejecting our black identity as outside of a normative representation of America by saying, “They gonna shoot him,” we ignore the possibilities of understanding the ethical implications of our actions.

Will we genuinely let him reinstate hope?

As Stuart Hall has urged in years past – will we let him find a new position from which blacks can collectively speak? Can we create a new America in our image? Can we re-imagine citizenship – never fully disaggregated from the history of Transatlantic Slavery – as normatively of African descent in America?

Hillary seemed to be really getting off on it. When she made her implications about Obama’s impending doom we got pissed. When white people talk shit, we emotionally bleed. Smoke comes out of our ears. Yet, I often wonder if I am the only one agitated by the fact that we as black people seem resigned to our fates. Before he won the nomination, I heard black people say, “Obama should wait this one out. Let someone else clean up George Bush’s mess so that way his term, the one after Hillary’s, can be a smoother ride. If he has too many bumps, there could be too many bullets.” Some folks still think that if a black person is doing too well, the rest of us will pay the tax. I know some black folks, living and working in South Carolina, who felt their world was a bit frostier in February after Obama’s big win in January. Many felt the need to celebrate in silence. Do we have a price to pay between now and November and are we willing to pay it? I do not know. For me, this is a scary way to think.

I do not have to tell you about black people collectively suffering from Stockholm Syndrome and the idea of identifying with oppressors. When will we have our catharsis? How long will we remain beholden to the idea that our own bodies are not human? Furthermore, when will we realise that our own fingers are on the trigger? Why are we not willing to fight for his life instead of imagining his death? Why are we not celebrating his life instead?

Literally, can Obama live?

We have to believe that America is ready for a non-stupid president, regardless of his race. We, black people, have to normalize the idea that a black man can be in charge, as easy as David Axelrod did. We cannot be preoccupied with the train wreck of this man’s future. We should be aware of the snakes (Hi, Hillary! Hi, Hater!) in Obama’s grass, and our own. However, every one of us supporting him will still have to fight for him. Moreover, fighting is not enough – you have to smile, kiss babies, host barbecues, and dream big for him. If you back him, imagine his electoral win. If you care about him, imagine his candidacy and fantastic term. Imagine the black president as successful as any other. Imagine his presidency as perfectly normal.

Tomiko Ballantyne is a Phd Student at Princeton University studying 20th Century Caribbean History. Her focus is on Caribbean Carnivals in Diaspora, and she is currently researching her dissertation on Caribana while in absentia in Toronto

Last Sunday, June 8, the yearly tradition of the Puerto Rican day parade overwhelms New York City. It happens every first Sunday in June, when the mass of Nuyoricans color 5th avenue in a wash of red white and blue. For a whole day, the bougiest neighborhood in the bougiest city in the bougiest nation in the world rings with loud thumps of Reggaeton and repeated shouts of B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-Boricua!

For this one day, a prideful people gather to show really how loud, passionate and in-your-face one goup of people can really be. Puerto Rican flags are painted on cars, flown from the highest of skyscrapers, and worn as every article of clothing imagineable. (who knew they made boxer underwear with the PR flag?)

It almost reminds me of the pride that Black folks felt last week when Barack Obama finally (and yes, FINALLY!) secured the Democratic nomination to be president of the United States. We were proud. We smiled, cheered, and congratulated each other. We forwarded emails and re-watched all the great speeches. We compared Obama to every Black leader imaginable. Most of all we just reminisced how none of us thought this could happen in our life time. Black folks have never been so proud.

And so subdued.

There were no jump-for-joy celebrations or parades in the street. No flag waving (do we even have a flag?), hi-fiving or pound-giving (outside of barack and michelle). And there were no impromptu choruses of “lift ev’ry voice and sing”

At least not in public.

Because we know that our overt Boricua-esque celebration of Barack Obama’s nomination, without a doubt a truly historical achievement, probably might not help Barack Obama win the general election. In fact it could make him lose.

Thus far, Barry O. has transcended race in his campaign. He has proved to voters in some of the Whitest states in the country that he is neither Black nor White. He is somehow above race. And even when the Clintons tried to remind the rest of the country repeatedly that our future president could be a Black man with the middle name Hussein, he stood tall, strong and above it all. They just forgot he was Black.

Or maybe they ignored it.

But in order to win against a more sinister marketing campaign (yes, it will get worse), we have to now cheer on Barack without being “too black.” The fist pump under the desk. Or the big smile behind closed doors. We honestly can’t give the excuses to remind the rest of our race-obsessed country that Barack Obama is Black.

Because there’s only so much a group of educated White folks, a huge turnout of Black folks, a backhanded endorsement from Hillary Clinton (oh yeah, and Oprah) can do in the hugely White, race-aware industrial wastelands of Appalachia and the Midwest rust belt that are important to win the general election in November.

And we cant discount the republican marketing machine. I even hear that someone is holding onto a scandalous video of Michelle Obama, waiting to release it sometime closer to November.

Remember they all forgot Oprah was Black – until she endorsed Barack Obama, and then her ratings fell. I wonder if you’ll see anymore of her on the campaign trail.

So the next President of the United States could be a Black man. It SHOULD be a black man. But in order to get there we have to help him. Jump, cheer, donate, etc. But don’t do it because he’s Black. In fact as we push Barack Obama toward the finish line, we might just forget that he’s a Black man, and hope a bunch of folks can forget about it too for at least one Tuesday in November. And then we’ll celebrate.

I’m making my reservation now for the inauguration in January – the biggest fish fry and BBQ the DC has ever seen.

From Cynopsis

On May 25 from 7-10p, viewers will get a big sneak preview of the new Lifestyle Zone, TV One’s Saturday morning show. The show, which begins airing on May 31 at 9a, will be all about lifestyle, including celebs, fashion, travel and much more. Returning to the network’s schedule with a new host will be TV One’s 30-minute Makeover Manor, now hosted by Essence Magazine Beauty Director and Cover Editor Mikki Taylor. It debuts on May 25 at 8p with back-to-back episodes. Here’s a glimpse at the network’s special primetime preview lineup on May 25:

• 7p – Third season debut of church renovation series Divine Restoration
• 730p – Fourth season premiere of reality series Living It Up with Patti LaBelle
• 8p and 830p – Season debut of newly redone Makeover Manor
• 9p – A new 60-minute special of G. Garvin: The Road Tour
• The new Saturday morning Lifestyle Zone lineup is as follows starting May 31:
• 9a – Turn Up the Heat with G. Garvin
• 930a – Divine Restoration
• 10a – Makeover Manor
• 1030a – Living It Up with Patti Labelle
• 11a – Turn Up the Heat with G. Garvin: Celebrity Dish (series premiere)
• 1130a – G. Garvin: The Road Tour

Preface:
I’d like the opportunity to pose some of the questions/issues that are close to my soul and offer up some quotes from Senator Barack Obama in what is my favorite speech he has done to date at Howard University on September 28, 2007. I’m doing this in a sort of call-and-response that they do in many churches. I do not offer up his words as the best solution…I use his words to show at least one of our political leaders has thought seriously about the problems of America’s justice system and perhaps…just perhaps…the chains of racism will begin to break in America’s most stubborn institution.
-Megan Francis

Dear Senator Barack Obama,

I’m still unsettled…and when I’m unsettled…I write…

I haven’t forgot about your courageous speech at Howard University’s convocation in September 2007. I’ve gone back to it many times…hoping to find inspiration and answers to some very important issues on my heart.

I am writing to you today because I’m still outraged about the Sean Bell tragedy (the initial 51 bullet shooting by three of NYPD’s finest, the court trial, the acquittal, and Americans quiet acquiescence of the end result) but on a larger scale, I am deeply troubled by the current state of the American criminal justice system and the violent clash that happens around Blackness/race.

I am greatly disturbed about the way Black masculinity has been criminalized over the course of American history and Americans refusal to acknowledge its impact. From slavery, to convict leasing and chain gangs during Reconstruction, to the double standard of justice that existed during Jim Crow, and the new laws in contemporary times that have lowered the allowable basis for stopping and searching individuals (read: Black) in their cars and on the street and the draconian drug laws that have locked up a generation of young Black men.

A friend of mine, made the interesting comparison that Michael Vick gets three years for involvement in killing dogs, but 51 bullets in an unarmed Black man and you still have your freedom. The conclusion that Black life is not valued is not very hard to draw.
If this was an isolated incident maybe I could reason away the blatant injustice of this case. But too many incidents have occurred that demonstrate racism continues to pervade the administration of justice in very violent ways: Michael Stewart (1983), Eleanor Bumpers (1984), Rodney King (1991), Amadou Diallo (1999), Jena 6 (2007).

Senator Obama, this is where I need your help, some hopeful words and powerful insight to address my greatest concerns and push me to continue to fight because right now I feel beat down, weary, and ready to throw up the white flag of surrender.

My anxiety is about the younger generation. I am at a loss at what we tell to our own children, nieces, nephews, and godchildren. It pains me that conversations with little Black boys and girls are necessary about the role of the police and that they will likely face a different reality than their White playmates. How do we explain to them that by virtue of being Black and especially being male, means you will likely be criminalized in the eyes of law enforcement? How do we simultaneously explain that its not their fault and try to instill self-confidence?

Obama: And it’s true that we have to do more as parents to instill in our children that violence is always wrong. It’s wrong when it happens on the streets of Chicago and it’s wrong when it happens at a schoolyard in Louisiana. Violence is not the answer. Non-violence was the soul of the Civil Rights Movement, and we have to do a better job of teaching our children that virtue.

Like Katrina did with poverty, Jena exposed glaring inequities in our justice system that were around long before that schoolyard fight broke out. It reminds us of the fact that we have a system that locks away too many young, first-time, non-violent offenders for the better part of their lives – a decision that’s made not by a judge in a courtroom, but by politicians in Washington. It reminds us that we have certain sentences that are based less on the kind of crime you commit than on what you look like and where you come from. It reminds us that we have a Justice Department whose idea of prosecuting civil rights violations is trying to rollback affirmative action programs at our college and universities; a Justice Department whose idea of prosecuting voting rights violations is to look for voting fraud in black and Latino communities where it doesn’t exist.

We know these inequities are there. We know they’re wrong. And yet they go largely unnoticed until people find the courage to stand up and say they’re wrong. Until someone finally says, “It’s wrong that Scooter Libby gets no jail time for compromising our national security, but a 21-year-old honor student is still sitting in a Georgia prison for something that wasn’t even a felony. That’s wrong.”

How do we inform children of the tragic truth and tell them to maintain hope that things will eventually change and progress will happen? How will it happen? How do we remain optimistic amidst the continuance of injustice?

Obama: But the truth is, one man cannot make a movement. No single law can erase the prejudice in the heart of a child who hangs a noose on a tree; or the callousness of a prosecutor who bypasses justice in the pursuit of vengeance. No one leader, no matter how shrewd or experienced, can prevent teenagers from killing other teenagers on the streets of our cities; or free our neighborhoods from the grip of hopelessness; or make real the promise of opportunity and equality for every citizen.

Only a country can do these things.

It takes a movement to lift a nation. It will take a movement to go into our cities and say that it’s not enough to just fix our criminal justice system; what we really need is to make sure that our kids don’t end up there in the first place.

How can we address the racism in the criminal justice system? What does change look like?

Obama:  When I was a state Senator in Illinois, we had a death penalty system that had sent thirteen innocent people to death row. Thirteen innocent men – that we know of. I wanted to reform the system. And I was told by almost everyone that it wasn’t possible. That I wouldn’t be able to get police officers and civil rights advocates; Democrats and Republicans to all agree that we should videotape confessions to make sure they weren’t coerced. Folks told me that there was too much political risk involved.

But I believed that it was too risky not to act. And after awhile people with opposing views came together and started listening. And we ended up reforming that death penalty system. And we did the same thing when I passed a law to expose racial profiling. So don’t ever let anyone tell you that change isn’t possible. Don’t let them tell you that speaking out and standing up against injustice is too risky. What’s too risky is keeping quiet. What’s too risky is looking the other way.

I don’t want to be standing here and talking about another Jena four years from now because we didn’t have the courage to act today. I don’t want this to be another issue that ends up being ignored once the cameras are turned off and the headlines disappear. It’s time to seek a new dawn of justice in America.

When I’m President, we will no longer accept the false choice between being tough on crime and vigilant in our pursuit of justice. Dr. King said it’s not either-or, it’s both-and. We can have a crime policy that’s both tough and smart.

How do we remain hopeful and not become complacent?

Obama:  Thurgood Marshall did not argue Brown so that we would accept a country where too many African-American men end up in prison because we’d rather spend more to jail a 25-year-old than to educate a five-year-old.

The resistance to civil rights reform was fierce. And we know that those who marched for freedom did so at great risk to themselves and their families.

But they did it because they understood that sometimes there are moments when what’s truly risky is not to act. What’s truly risky is to let the same injustice remain year after year. What’s truly risky is to walk away and pretend it never happened. What’s truly risky is to accept things as they are instead of working for what could be.

But the leaders of the civil rights movement of the 1960s marched and advocated for a criminal justice system that would treat everyone equally. If it could not be realized over the last 50 years, why do you think we should continue to work for change….that perhaps can never be? I’ve become almost numb. Will the fight ever end?

Obama:  It’s not enough just to look back in wonder of how far we’ve come – I want us to look ahead with a fierce urgency at how far we have left to go. I believe it’s time for this generation to make its own mark – to write our own chapter in the American story. After all, those who came before us did not strike a blow against injustice only so that we would allow injustice to fester in our time.

Those are the words I will leave you with today. Be strong and have courage. Be strong and have courage in the face of injustice. Be strong and have courage in the face of prejudice and hatred. Be strong and have courage in the face of joblessness and helplessness and hopelessness. Be strong and have courage, in the face of our doubts and fears, in the face of skepticism, in the face of cynicism, in the face of a mighty river. Be strong and have courage and let us cross over to that Promised Land together.

Thank you Senator for your time and your heartfelt words. I will continue to fight and still believe this nation can create a movement for change.

Sincerely.

Megan Francis

Megan Francis is a Phd candidate in Political Science at Princeton University. She currently lives in Philadelphia, PA.

Acknowledgements: Vasco Bridges, Jodina Hicks, Bing Howell, Philip Rigueur.

And of course Barack Obama.

View Obama’s speech: video clip or transcript

African American television homes in the US represent 13,650,000 households. Here are the Live +SD rankings for the week of April 20-27, 2008 - highest rated primetime network programs in African American TV homes according to Nielsen Media Research
FOX American Idol (Wed 9p) 11.7 HH Rtg
FOX American Idol (Tue 8p) 11.6 HH Rtg
ABC Dancing with the Stars (Mon 8p) 10.4 HH Rtg
CBS CSI: Miami (Mon 10p) 10.2 HH Rtg
CBS Without a Trace (Thu 10p) 9.8 HH Rtg
NBC Law and Order (Wed 10p) 9.4 HH Rtg
NBC Law and Order: SVU (Tue 10p) 8.7 HH Rtg
ABC Grey’s Anatomy (Thu 9p) 8.5 HH Rtg
ABC Dancing with the Stars Results (Tue 9p) 8.4 HH Rtg
CBS CSI (Thu 9p) 8.2 HH Rtg
*Source: Nielsen Media Research (via Cynopsis)